Caterpillar mining business leader Denise Johnson has flagged further mining software and technology M&A and said the US machinery giant wants to triple “the number of autonomous trucks in operation by 2030”.
It’s not clear if this means Caterpillar-only trucks (circa-690 in operation worldwide now) or trucks under Caterpillar autonomy since the manufacturer is now pushing mixed-fleet technology on the back of a retrofit project for “a large customer [at] two of the largest iron ore mines in South America” involving more than 90 large Cat and competitor trucks.
Caterpillar also expects to grow its quarry autonomous vehicle population.
“Autonomy and automation are the fastest growing trends in mining with a projected 12% CAGR driven by declining ore grades, rising input costs and certainly continuing labour issues,” Johnson, group president of Caterpillar Resource Industries, told analysts during this week’s company investor day.
